CHRISTOPHER•ALLEN•SMITH•WINTON Family Tree - Person Sheet
CHRISTOPHER•ALLEN•SMITH•WINTON Family Tree - Person Sheet
Birth PlaceWashington Twp., Sauk Co., Wisconsin
Memo1900 census says AUG 1865. Age 11 when his father died. The 1870 census says he was 2, but he may have been just shy of his 3rd birthday, assuming “AUG” is the correct month.
Census Date18 Jul 1870 [219]
Census PlaceWashington Twp., Sauk Co., Wisconsin, United States
Census Date16 Jun 1880 [614]
Census PlaceWashington Twp., Sauk Co., Wisconsin, United States
Reside Date1 Oct 1892 [23]
Reside PlaceReedsburg, Sauk Co., Wisconsin, United States
Census Date13 Jun 1900 [568]
Census PlaceStanford Precinct, Fergus Co., Montana, United States
MemoStanford, MT, is now part of Judith Basin County.
Census Date26 Jan 1920 [310]
Census PlaceChester, Liberty Co., Montana, United States
Memo108 Main Street, School Dist. 33
Death PlaceHavre, Hill Co., Montana, United States
MemoAge on death certificate says “about 52.” Obituary says “55”.
Burial Date28 Oct 1927 [708], [2363], [1498, MEMORIAL# 42646242]
Burial PlaceChester, Liberty Co., Montana, United States
MemoDate is listed as “Rem” (Removal) on the death certificate.
Alias/AKACharley [708]
Alt.SpellingALLAN [568]
OccupationMerchant [708]
OccupationCook [568]
FatherThomas B. ALLEN (1826-1878)
MotherMargaret Elizabeth TAYLOR (1835-1889)
Misc. Notes
Was in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, as of 1-OCT-1892. [22], [23]
Was in Stanford, Fergus Co., Montana, as of 23-SEP-1899. [21]
18-OCT-1927, Charles went to Havre, Montana, for medical attention. [2364]
Chester, Montana, was listed as his residence at the time of his death. [708]
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Note that as of 17-FEB-2018 the Findagrave page for Charles incorrectly states the year of birth, probably due to the error in the death certificate. The place of death stated is also wrong.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Charles W. ALLEN, 1867-1927
With no official record of birth and a death certificate remarkably devoid of personal details, the best estimate I have for the date of birth for Charles W. Allen, is 1867 or 1868. The former is based on a recorded age of 11, shortly after the death of his father, in 1878. The latter comes from a reported age of 2, in the 1870 census of Washington Township, Sauk County, Wisconsin. Thus, he was either 59 or 60 at the time of his death on 25 Oct. 1927, but the informant for his death certificate, James G. Holland, was only his undertaker, and apparently just guessed that "Charley" was 52. Mr. Holland knew nothing of Charles' birthplace or parentage, but by a strange coincidence, the name of the registrar who filed the record of death at Havre, Hill County, Montana, was named Margaret Allen, the same as Charles' mother. An obituary appeared the following day in Havre, which stated his age as 55, adding that he had relatives in Minnesota. [2363]
The first indication of Charles leaving his native Wisconsin, is a Quit Claim Deed, dated 23 Sep. 1899, which identified him as a resident of Stanford, Montana. By this deed he took possession of part of his late father's farm, from his younger brother, Thomas. Charles had participated in two similar deeds on 1 Oct. 1892, when his residence was noted as Reedsburg, Wisconsin. So this narrows the date that he headed west, to a seven year period. The 1900 census of Fergus County, Montana, shows he was still living in "Stanford Precinct," working as a cook (today, Stanford is part of Judith Basin County). At that time he was hosting five boarders in his home, so that probably supplemented his income. In 1901, after having acquired all the necessary quit-claim-deeds for the family farm in Wisconsin, granted to him by his siblings, Charles turned it around and sold the property for $1550 (the Allen School was excluded from the sale).
His next move was to Chester, Liberty County, MT, at least by 1920. No record of him has been found in the 1910 census, so it is not clear when he left Stanford. He was living alone in 1920 and reported "none" for occupation. All indications are that he resided in Chester for the rest of his life.
From 1911 through 1926, Charles had a habit of lending money to a lot of people, as documented by all the promissory notes in his possession at the time he died. And taking into account the time when this happened, it was a considerable sum of money (for example, $100 in 1911, would be the equivalent of about $2310 in 2010). Apart from this list of names, in most cases, there is little, if any documentation of their existence beyond the notes themselves:
1911, Edward Furlong, $100.00
1913, N. B. Meagler, $53.00
1914, J. H. Lowe, 375.00
1916, T. J. Day, $80.00
1916, G. W. Luke and Satie Lukes, $436.50
1916, Mrs. Margaret Fugle, $475.00
1917, George Berg, $100.00
1917, W. H. Bayeley, $50.00
1918, Harold Fauchald, $100.00
1918, George and Martin Reisenauer, $500.00
1918, Martin Reisenauer, $50.00
1918, George and Martin Reisenauer, $400.00
1920, George Meissner, $193.00
1923, Myron St. Clair, $150.00 (the only one of these persons who was named in the will)
1926, C. C. Kolstad, $100.00
In addition to those notes, somebody owed Charles $2500 on a first mortgage on four lots of land just west of Chester, which are today, still farmland. And he also had a document described as a "Receiver's Certificate of Proof of Claim on the First State Bank of Chester" which had a face value of $243.48. The "Inventory and Appraisement" of his estate estimated that only seven of these documents had any collectible value, totaling $310, versus a total face value of $5905.98 (about $72,759 in 2010 dollars). The executor of his estate was only able to collect $395.50.
The probating of his estate brought to light a number of debts, supported by receipts documenting various recent purchases he had made, apparently on credit. This included the purchase of cases of "Near Beer" on the 9th and 29th of August, 1927; 300 cigars from a store in Butte, MT, on 30 Sep. 1927; two kettles, a collender [sic] and a coal bucket on 8 Oct. 1927; an assortment of cigarettes, candy and cheese at a wholesale grocer in Havre, MT, on 18 Oct. 1927; eleven different types of candy from a store in Great Falls, MT, on 19 Oct. 1927. For a man near death, he managed to get around. It was actually reported in the “Havre Daily News Promoter” that very day, that Charles had arrived in Havre on Tuesday the 18th, for medical attention and yet he was buying candy the very next day in Great Falls.
For a period of four days beginning 20 Sep. 1927, Charles was too ill to work at his store and arranged for Ole Smistad (or Smestad) to fill in for him, at a rate of $5 per day. By the 15th of October, 1927, his health had deteriorated to the point where it was necessary to seek treatment at Kennedy Deaconess Hospital, in nearby Havre, Hill County. According to the death certificate, Dr. Arthur A. Husser, attended to him from that date until his death on the 25th. Though, as indicated above by his shopping excursions, he was not actually confined to the hospital before the 20th. Based on another creditor's claim, another physician at that hospital, Dr. Charles S. Houtz, prescribed two different drugs for Charles, which were purchased at the Havre Drug Company on the 18th and delivered to the hospital. During Charles' final days, Dr. Husser determined that Charles was suffering from acute alcoholism (twelve months) and chronic parenchymatous nephritis (two years). If Charles had a drinking problem, he must have consumed his last bottle before being hospitalized, as no alcoholic beverages were listed in the inventory of his estate. As was noted, he did occasionally purchase “Near Beer,” though it would probably be difficult to develop alcoholism with that. Perhaps he only imbibed at the local saloon. Another possibility is suggested by the large quantities of pop that he possessed and in fact still owed money on at the time of his death. He may have quit heavy drinking, but too late. He died, 25 Oct. 1927, still in Havre, and thus the funeral home, Holland and Bonine, had to ship the body by railway back to Chester, accompanied by George T. Ainley, an acquaintance of Charles and the first witness to sign his will. George also dug the grave in Chester (the specific cemetery is unknown and no expenditure was recorded for purchase of a headstone).
Apart from his financial condition, there isn't a lot we can learn about Charles from his probate file, but the inventory of his estate and the examples of his shopping habits in the last three months of his life, do say something. He was a man who enjoyed tobacco, candy, nuts, cheese and soda pop. And, unfortunately, alcohol. He owned both a piano and what is believed to have been a phonograph ("Silvertone machine" - Silvertone was a line of products from Sears which also included radios and musical instruments) so he must have liked music, though no record albums were listed as part of his estate. It is tempting to conclude that he also enjoyed hunting, based on the several animal hides he possessed (mountain lion, black bear, beaver, coyote, plus 3 deer heads), but no firearms were listed in the inventory.
It may be interesting to note the names of some of the food and tobacco products that Charles purchased:
Beachnut
Broadway Cigars
Camel Cigarettes
Chesterfield Cigarettes
Climax candy
Durham tobacco
Dutch Treat
Fuzy Wuzz (or Wuzy) [sic] candy
Golden Nuggets
Hamilton candy
Hershey (presumably chocolate)
Hipper Herring
Horehound candy (often marketed as a cough remedy)
Juicy fruit gum
Lindy Lunch
Master piece [sic] Tobacco
Milk-a-Let (or Milkett) candy
Mint cakes
Texan Grants
P K gum
Peerless Tobacco
Polo Cigarettes
Prince Albert Tobacco
Ranger Tobacco
Samo Cigarettes
Spearmint gum
Velvet tobacco
"111" ("One-Eleven" brand) Cigarettes
As for "luxuries," he owned a gold watch and chain, a diamond stick pin, a diamond ring, and a beaver coat and cap. But actually, his most valuable assets were his real estate holdings. According to the inventory, he had four separate parcels which were appraised at a total of $3300:
(1) Lot 12, Block 1, Original Townsite of Chester, Montana. Bequeathed to Myron St. Clair. Appraised at $600.
(2) Lots 14, 15, 16, and 17, Block 1, Original Townsite of Chester, Montana. Bequeathed to Mrs. Clinton Christopher. Appraised at $1000.
(3) Lot 14, Block 5, Original Townsite of Chester, Montana. Bequeathed to Irene Allen Fydell. Appraised at $500.
(4) East Half (E 1/2), Section 10, Township 30 North, Range 5 East, Montana Meridian. Bequeathed to Clarence Kolstad. Appraised at $1200.
No indication is given in the probate file that any of these properties were sold for cash, so unless other documentation can be found, the assumption is that the above named heirs and devisees took direct possession of the real estate. No specific mention of his house was made during the probate process, so it is probable that it was located on one of those pieces of real estate, but it is not known which one. The fact that during the probate hearings, the executor rented the first property listed above to Ole Smistad for the duration of the probate administration, suggests that may be where Charles' house was located. Otherwise why would Ole rent it if it was vacant land? A photograph of the house exists, but it offers no clues as to its location (see photo collection linked to Charles).
As for Charles' occupations, the records show that he was a cook and ran a boarding house for a time. But the death certificate says he was a Merchant and the documentation regarding his illness in September of 1927, provided evidence that he had been working in a store of some kind. The executor's account of cash in and out mentioned cash "received from sale of store property" and "received from cash found in store building." But the type of store he operated remains unknown.
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☞Revised, 02 June 2014, Bruce W. Christopher.
Was in Stanford, Fergus Co., Montana, as of 23-SEP-1899. [21]
18-OCT-1927, Charles went to Havre, Montana, for medical attention. [2364]
Chester, Montana, was listed as his residence at the time of his death. [708]
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Note that as of 17-FEB-2018 the Findagrave page for Charles incorrectly states the year of birth, probably due to the error in the death certificate. The place of death stated is also wrong.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Charles W. ALLEN, 1867-1927
With no official record of birth and a death certificate remarkably devoid of personal details, the best estimate I have for the date of birth for Charles W. Allen, is 1867 or 1868. The former is based on a recorded age of 11, shortly after the death of his father, in 1878. The latter comes from a reported age of 2, in the 1870 census of Washington Township, Sauk County, Wisconsin. Thus, he was either 59 or 60 at the time of his death on 25 Oct. 1927, but the informant for his death certificate, James G. Holland, was only his undertaker, and apparently just guessed that "Charley" was 52. Mr. Holland knew nothing of Charles' birthplace or parentage, but by a strange coincidence, the name of the registrar who filed the record of death at Havre, Hill County, Montana, was named Margaret Allen, the same as Charles' mother. An obituary appeared the following day in Havre, which stated his age as 55, adding that he had relatives in Minnesota. [2363]
The first indication of Charles leaving his native Wisconsin, is a Quit Claim Deed, dated 23 Sep. 1899, which identified him as a resident of Stanford, Montana. By this deed he took possession of part of his late father's farm, from his younger brother, Thomas. Charles had participated in two similar deeds on 1 Oct. 1892, when his residence was noted as Reedsburg, Wisconsin. So this narrows the date that he headed west, to a seven year period. The 1900 census of Fergus County, Montana, shows he was still living in "Stanford Precinct," working as a cook (today, Stanford is part of Judith Basin County). At that time he was hosting five boarders in his home, so that probably supplemented his income. In 1901, after having acquired all the necessary quit-claim-deeds for the family farm in Wisconsin, granted to him by his siblings, Charles turned it around and sold the property for $1550 (the Allen School was excluded from the sale).
His next move was to Chester, Liberty County, MT, at least by 1920. No record of him has been found in the 1910 census, so it is not clear when he left Stanford. He was living alone in 1920 and reported "none" for occupation. All indications are that he resided in Chester for the rest of his life.
From 1911 through 1926, Charles had a habit of lending money to a lot of people, as documented by all the promissory notes in his possession at the time he died. And taking into account the time when this happened, it was a considerable sum of money (for example, $100 in 1911, would be the equivalent of about $2310 in 2010). Apart from this list of names, in most cases, there is little, if any documentation of their existence beyond the notes themselves:
1911, Edward Furlong, $100.00
1913, N. B. Meagler, $53.00
1914, J. H. Lowe, 375.00
1916, T. J. Day, $80.00
1916, G. W. Luke and Satie Lukes, $436.50
1916, Mrs. Margaret Fugle, $475.00
1917, George Berg, $100.00
1917, W. H. Bayeley, $50.00
1918, Harold Fauchald, $100.00
1918, George and Martin Reisenauer, $500.00
1918, Martin Reisenauer, $50.00
1918, George and Martin Reisenauer, $400.00
1920, George Meissner, $193.00
1923, Myron St. Clair, $150.00 (the only one of these persons who was named in the will)
1926, C. C. Kolstad, $100.00
In addition to those notes, somebody owed Charles $2500 on a first mortgage on four lots of land just west of Chester, which are today, still farmland. And he also had a document described as a "Receiver's Certificate of Proof of Claim on the First State Bank of Chester" which had a face value of $243.48. The "Inventory and Appraisement" of his estate estimated that only seven of these documents had any collectible value, totaling $310, versus a total face value of $5905.98 (about $72,759 in 2010 dollars). The executor of his estate was only able to collect $395.50.
The probating of his estate brought to light a number of debts, supported by receipts documenting various recent purchases he had made, apparently on credit. This included the purchase of cases of "Near Beer" on the 9th and 29th of August, 1927; 300 cigars from a store in Butte, MT, on 30 Sep. 1927; two kettles, a collender [sic] and a coal bucket on 8 Oct. 1927; an assortment of cigarettes, candy and cheese at a wholesale grocer in Havre, MT, on 18 Oct. 1927; eleven different types of candy from a store in Great Falls, MT, on 19 Oct. 1927. For a man near death, he managed to get around. It was actually reported in the “Havre Daily News Promoter” that very day, that Charles had arrived in Havre on Tuesday the 18th, for medical attention and yet he was buying candy the very next day in Great Falls.
For a period of four days beginning 20 Sep. 1927, Charles was too ill to work at his store and arranged for Ole Smistad (or Smestad) to fill in for him, at a rate of $5 per day. By the 15th of October, 1927, his health had deteriorated to the point where it was necessary to seek treatment at Kennedy Deaconess Hospital, in nearby Havre, Hill County. According to the death certificate, Dr. Arthur A. Husser, attended to him from that date until his death on the 25th. Though, as indicated above by his shopping excursions, he was not actually confined to the hospital before the 20th. Based on another creditor's claim, another physician at that hospital, Dr. Charles S. Houtz, prescribed two different drugs for Charles, which were purchased at the Havre Drug Company on the 18th and delivered to the hospital. During Charles' final days, Dr. Husser determined that Charles was suffering from acute alcoholism (twelve months) and chronic parenchymatous nephritis (two years). If Charles had a drinking problem, he must have consumed his last bottle before being hospitalized, as no alcoholic beverages were listed in the inventory of his estate. As was noted, he did occasionally purchase “Near Beer,” though it would probably be difficult to develop alcoholism with that. Perhaps he only imbibed at the local saloon. Another possibility is suggested by the large quantities of pop that he possessed and in fact still owed money on at the time of his death. He may have quit heavy drinking, but too late. He died, 25 Oct. 1927, still in Havre, and thus the funeral home, Holland and Bonine, had to ship the body by railway back to Chester, accompanied by George T. Ainley, an acquaintance of Charles and the first witness to sign his will. George also dug the grave in Chester (the specific cemetery is unknown and no expenditure was recorded for purchase of a headstone).
Apart from his financial condition, there isn't a lot we can learn about Charles from his probate file, but the inventory of his estate and the examples of his shopping habits in the last three months of his life, do say something. He was a man who enjoyed tobacco, candy, nuts, cheese and soda pop. And, unfortunately, alcohol. He owned both a piano and what is believed to have been a phonograph ("Silvertone machine" - Silvertone was a line of products from Sears which also included radios and musical instruments) so he must have liked music, though no record albums were listed as part of his estate. It is tempting to conclude that he also enjoyed hunting, based on the several animal hides he possessed (mountain lion, black bear, beaver, coyote, plus 3 deer heads), but no firearms were listed in the inventory.
It may be interesting to note the names of some of the food and tobacco products that Charles purchased:
Beachnut
Broadway Cigars
Camel Cigarettes
Chesterfield Cigarettes
Climax candy
Durham tobacco
Dutch Treat
Fuzy Wuzz (or Wuzy) [sic] candy
Golden Nuggets
Hamilton candy
Hershey (presumably chocolate)
Hipper Herring
Horehound candy (often marketed as a cough remedy)
Juicy fruit gum
Lindy Lunch
Master piece [sic] Tobacco
Milk-a-Let (or Milkett) candy
Mint cakes
Texan Grants
P K gum
Peerless Tobacco
Polo Cigarettes
Prince Albert Tobacco
Ranger Tobacco
Samo Cigarettes
Spearmint gum
Velvet tobacco
"111" ("One-Eleven" brand) Cigarettes
As for "luxuries," he owned a gold watch and chain, a diamond stick pin, a diamond ring, and a beaver coat and cap. But actually, his most valuable assets were his real estate holdings. According to the inventory, he had four separate parcels which were appraised at a total of $3300:
(1) Lot 12, Block 1, Original Townsite of Chester, Montana. Bequeathed to Myron St. Clair. Appraised at $600.
(2) Lots 14, 15, 16, and 17, Block 1, Original Townsite of Chester, Montana. Bequeathed to Mrs. Clinton Christopher. Appraised at $1000.
(3) Lot 14, Block 5, Original Townsite of Chester, Montana. Bequeathed to Irene Allen Fydell. Appraised at $500.
(4) East Half (E 1/2), Section 10, Township 30 North, Range 5 East, Montana Meridian. Bequeathed to Clarence Kolstad. Appraised at $1200.
No indication is given in the probate file that any of these properties were sold for cash, so unless other documentation can be found, the assumption is that the above named heirs and devisees took direct possession of the real estate. No specific mention of his house was made during the probate process, so it is probable that it was located on one of those pieces of real estate, but it is not known which one. The fact that during the probate hearings, the executor rented the first property listed above to Ole Smistad for the duration of the probate administration, suggests that may be where Charles' house was located. Otherwise why would Ole rent it if it was vacant land? A photograph of the house exists, but it offers no clues as to its location (see photo collection linked to Charles).
As for Charles' occupations, the records show that he was a cook and ran a boarding house for a time. But the death certificate says he was a Merchant and the documentation regarding his illness in September of 1927, provided evidence that he had been working in a store of some kind. The executor's account of cash in and out mentioned cash "received from sale of store property" and "received from cash found in store building." But the type of store he operated remains unknown.
―――――――――――――――――――――
☞Revised, 02 June 2014, Bruce W. Christopher.
Research
There was also a Charles W. Allen living in Havre, Hill Co., MT, in 1920, but he was about 14 years younger, was born in Colorado and had a wife and five children [see 1920 census].
I’m still not certain where Charles W. ALLEN was in 1910, but on 18-JUL-2015, I found a census record that could be him. The problem with this record is that the person’s age is given as 34, whereas Charles’ age at his last birthday prior to this census would have been 42 (assuming he was born in Aug. 1867). On the other hand, Charle’s death certificate listed his age as 52, when in fact he was 60; curiously this is the name number of years in error. Secondly, the entries for birthplace of parents says “unknown” for both (in 1920, he reported his parents were born in Pennsylvania, so it would seem he did know that, so perhaps in 1910, the data did not come directly from Charles.). On the positive side, the person’s name is listed as “Charlie W. ALLEN” and he was born in Wisconsin and was single. He was living in Chester, Chouteau Co., Montana (Chester is in Hill Co. now, and we know that Charles was definitely in Chester by the 1920 census). The head of the “household” was Thomas P. SNUFFER, who, along with his brother, Benjamin H., ran a “livery barn.” Instead of listing Charlie as a boarder or roomer, he is listed in the “Relation” column as “Saloon” and his occupation was listed as Farm Laborer. On Ancestry, their index entry mistakenly lists the parents’ birthplaces as “Maine” but it clearly says “unknown” on the actual record, so I have submitted a correction.
I’m still not certain where Charles W. ALLEN was in 1910, but on 18-JUL-2015, I found a census record that could be him. The problem with this record is that the person’s age is given as 34, whereas Charles’ age at his last birthday prior to this census would have been 42 (assuming he was born in Aug. 1867). On the other hand, Charle’s death certificate listed his age as 52, when in fact he was 60; curiously this is the name number of years in error. Secondly, the entries for birthplace of parents says “unknown” for both (in 1920, he reported his parents were born in Pennsylvania, so it would seem he did know that, so perhaps in 1910, the data did not come directly from Charles.). On the positive side, the person’s name is listed as “Charlie W. ALLEN” and he was born in Wisconsin and was single. He was living in Chester, Chouteau Co., Montana (Chester is in Hill Co. now, and we know that Charles was definitely in Chester by the 1920 census). The head of the “household” was Thomas P. SNUFFER, who, along with his brother, Benjamin H., ran a “livery barn.” Instead of listing Charlie as a boarder or roomer, he is listed in the “Relation” column as “Saloon” and his occupation was listed as Farm Laborer. On Ancestry, their index entry mistakenly lists the parents’ birthplaces as “Maine” but it clearly says “unknown” on the actual record, so I have submitted a correction.